Ones to Watch from Arts University Plymouth's Graduate Shows 2026

<p>Arts University Plymouth is celebrating our Ones to Watch from <a href="https://www.aup.ac.uk/graduate-shows-2026">Graduate Shows 2026</a>, highlighting graduating students whose final projects show the range of creative talent emerging from Plymouth this summer.</p> <p>The student work is on show as part of Arts University Plymouth’s 2026 Graduate Shows, a season of free public exhibitions and events presenting work by students across art, design, craft, media, fashion, photography, film, animation and illustration. The story also forms part of our university’s <a href="https://www.aup.ac.uk/about-us/170-years">170th anniversary year</a>, marking its founding in 1856 as Plymouth Drawing School.</p> <p>The selected students work across textile design, fashion media, graphic design, fine art, illustration, photography, game arts, craft, interiors, painting, film and costume.</p> <p>In no particular order, the 2026 Ones to Watch include:</p>

<p dir="ltr">Course: <a href="https://www.aup.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate/ba-hons-craft-material-practices">BA (Hons) Craft &amp; Material Practices</a></p> <p dir="ltr">Ippei Takizawa’s <em>Future Archaeology</em> encloses a mass-produced toy inside a hand-cut faceted glass vessel, turning a familiar object into a speculative relic. The cut surfaces distort, repeat and blur the toy, making it visible but unreachable.</p> <p dir="ltr">Using glass casting, blown glass, facet cutting, mould-making and digital fabrication, Ippei explores how commercial objects shift in meaning when removed from use and treated as artefacts. Drawing on kiddult culture, the project links toys and characters to memory, nostalgia and value.</p> <p dir="ltr">Links: <a href="http://ippeiart.myportfolio.com">ippeiart.myportfolio.com</a> | Instagram <a href="https://www.instagram.com/ippei_artandcraft/">@ippei_artandcraft</a><br /></p>

<p dir="ltr">Course: <a href="https://www.aup.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate/ba-hons-fashion-media-marketing">BA (Hons) Fashion Media &amp; Marketing</a></p> <p dir="ltr">Abigail Logan’s <em>Denim Is the Canvas</em> is an event plan for Clements and Church, built around custom denim as a way to bring fit, personal style and brand experience together. Designed for an audience that already understands tailoring, the project turns denim into the focus of a live retail activation: something to wear, personalise and gather around.</p> <p dir="ltr">During her degree, Abigail completed a 12-month placement with The Walt Disney Company in London as a Brand Marketing Creative Intern for Disney Consumer Products, supporting pitch decks, brainstorms, short-form video edits, graphics, music sourcing, shoot days and campaign content. She was later invited back to freelance as a Junior Creative while completing her studies. In 2026, she received the Special Recognition Award at Arts University Plymouth’s Above and Beyond Awards.</p> <p dir="ltr">Links: <a href="https://new.express.adobe.com/published/urn:aaid:sc:EU:f8a41a32-56b7-55f4-b972-d54a2a812f87?category=search">Portfolio</a> | Instagram <a href="https://www.instagram.com/abigail.creative/">@abigail.creative</a> | Showreel: <a href="https://youtu.be/f8H-8eU1scQ?si=DMpImSY15sliyRkz">Abigail Logan Showreel 2026</a><br /></p>

<p dir="ltr">Course: <a href="https://www.aup.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate/ba-hons-fashion-media-marketing">BA (Hons) Fashion Media &amp; Marketing</a></p> <p dir="ltr">An abanico can hide a face, sharpen a gesture, cool a body, finish an outfit or signal the start of a performance. In Isabel McGregor Cuevas’s <em>Unfolding Europe: the art, culture and symbolism of the abanico</em>, the Spanish hand fan becomes a tool for image-making, identity and theatrical self-presentation.</p> <p dir="ltr">Isabel is a bilingual, Spanish-born fashion media creative working across photography, creative direction, styling and print. Her project follows the abanico through Spanish visual culture and into contemporary performance spaces including flamenco, burlesque and drag. Her industry experience includes creatively assisting on an <em>Original Magazine</em> front cover shoot with Maura Higgins, winning an <em>Original Magazine</em> live brief, photographing backstage at Copenhagen Fashion Week and winning the Kickers 50th anniversary live brief pitch.</p> <p dir="ltr">Links: <a href="https://linktr.ee/isabelmcgregorstudio">Linktree</a> | Instagram <a href="https://www.instagram.com/isabelmcgregorcuevas/">@isabelmcgregorcuevas</a><br /></p>

<p dir="ltr">Course: <a href="https://www.aup.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate/ba-hons-painting-drawing-printmaking">BA (Hons) Painting, Drawing &amp; Printmaking</a></p> <p dir="ltr">Conor Trapnell’s <em>She Hasn’t A Name</em>, <em>3 Little Pigs</em> and <em>Bohalls</em> bring the speed of sketchbook drawing onto traditional gesso board. Pigs, bottles, bodies and repeated shapes appear in bright colour and thick outline, with marks left loose rather than tidied away.</p> <p dir="ltr">The paintings are made through layering, image transfer and painted surface. Conor works with Flashe acrylic, newsprint, pigment and gesso, using the process to break up careful decision-making and let unexpected marks into the work. His background in hands-on work, including tree surgery and carpentry, carries into the studio, where he builds, prepares and tests materials himself.</p> <p dir="ltr">Links: <a href="http://conortrapnell.co.uk">conortrapnell.co.uk</a> | Instagram <a href="https://www.instagram.com/conor_trapnell/">@conor_trapnell</a> | YouTube <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@conortrapnell">@Conortrapnell</a><br /></p>

<p dir="ltr">Course: <a href="https://www.aup.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate/ba-hons-game-arts-animation">BA (Hons) Game Arts &amp; Animation</a></p> <p dir="ltr">Allen Isaac’s <em>Starfell</em> is a character concept art project built around visual storytelling, relationships and meaningful representation. Working as a 2D character artist and illustrator, Allen develops characters through silhouette, shape language, colour, body language and digital drawing in Clip Studio Paint.</p> <p dir="ltr">The project focuses on a cast whose relationships affect the story around them, with themes of self-discovery, human morality, healing and queer culture running through the work. Allen’s character designs use small visual decisions to show who a character is before the audience knows their full story.</p> <p dir="ltr">Links: Instagram <a href="https://www.instagram.com/leaf.jam.art/">@leaf.jam.art</a> | ArtStation <a href="https://www.artstation.com/allen_isaac">allen_isaac</a> <br /></p>

<p dir="ltr">Course: <a href="https://www.aup.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate/integrated-foundation">Extended BA (Hons) Graphic Design</a></p> <p dir="ltr">Jessika McCarron’s <em>Reset Deck</em> is a 40-card prompt system for creatives facing block, imposter syndrome or burnout. It is designed as a toolkit rather than a game: no scoring, no winning and no fixed rules. Cards can be selected at random, chosen by mood or used with others.</p> <p dir="ltr">The visual language is direct and physical, with black grounds, saturated pink and orange, and bold typographic prompts such as <em>Colour</em> and <em>Disrupt</em>. A #resetdeck sharing element opens the system out beyond the pack, but the central offer stays simple. <em>Reset Deck</em> gives creatives a practical way to pause, shift direction and begin again.</p> <p dir="ltr">Links: <a href="http://jessiemakes.co.uk">jessiemakes.co.uk</a> | <a href="http://resetdeck.co.uk">resetdeck.co.uk</a> | Instagram <a href="https://www.instagram.com/jessikamakeshq/">@jessikamakeshq</a><br /></p>

<p dir="ltr">Course: <a href="https://www.aup.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate/ba-hons-costume-production">BA (Hons) Costume Production</a></p> <p dir="ltr">Izzy Cooke’s <em>The Bride of Frankenstein</em> starts with a question: what do we actually know about the Bride, beyond her frightened appearance in the original film? Izzy reimagines the character as the centre of a Victorian gothic horror story, using costume to give her fear, anger and agency.</p> <p dir="ltr">The final piece is a six-layer 1870s ensemble built around historical silhouette, foundation garments and a darker reading of the Frankenstein myth. Izzy’s practice includes hand embroidery, millinery, laser cutting, liquid latex painting and historical fabric manipulation. Alongside her degree, she works as a dresser at Theatre Royal Plymouth, with credits including Matthew Bourne’s <em>The Red Shoes</em> 2025 tour, Theatre Royal Plymouth’s <em>Dick Whittington</em> pantomime, and Welsh National Opera productions including <em>Blaze of Glory</em>, <em>The Flying Dutchman</em> and <em>Play Opera Live</em>.</p> <p dir="ltr">Links: Instagram <a href="https://www.instagram.com/needle_n_muse/">@needle_n_muse</a><br /></p>

<p dir="ltr">Course: <a href="https://www.aup.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate/ba-hons-interior-design">BA (Hons) Interior Design &amp; Styling</a></p> <p dir="ltr">Katie Ethell’s <em>Juniper Gin flagship store</em> is a self-created brand and commercial interior concept for an artisan gin company. The project designs the full customer journey, from a farmers’ market-inspired shop to a bar, staff area and multipurpose workshop space for events.</p> <p dir="ltr">Katie uses the project to test how branding can move through an interior. Bottle labels, packaging, website and Instagram concepts sit alongside the spatial scheme, while styled product photography and a cocktail recipe book extend the world of Juniper Gin beyond the store. Sustainability and inclusivity shape the design, including recycled glass bottles, a non-alcoholic range and choices that encourage a slower-paced bar environment.</p> <p dir="ltr">Links: Instagram <a href="">@kme_interiors</a><br /></p>

<p dir="ltr">Course: <a href="https://www.aup.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate/ba-hons-fashion-design">BA (Hons) Fashion Design</a></p> <p dir="ltr">Eloise Bull’s <em>Embracing Nostalgia</em> is a fashion collection shaped by childhood clothing, self-expression and the pleasure of dressing for yourself. Drawing on vintage children’s clothes and Eloise’s own childhood wardrobe, the collection uses bright colour, mixed pattern, modest silhouettes and altered proportions without becoming costume.</p> <p dir="ltr">The work responds to fast fashion, poor-quality garments and the way fashion can move between sexualisation and infantilisation. Eloise offers another route: playful clothes that are carefully cut, well made and designed with more bodies in mind.</p> <p dir="ltr">A technical designer with a focus on pattern cutting and construction, Eloise works with natural fibres including cotton and linen, finishing each piece with bias-bound seams. Beyond the collection, Eloise is interested in developing size-inclusive sewing patterns that encourage younger people to sew, adapt and make clothes that last.</p> <p dir="ltr">Links: <a href="https://www.bullandbobbin.com/">www.bullandbobbin.com </a> | Instagram: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/bull.and.bobbin/">@bull.and.bobbin</a><br /></p>

<p dir="ltr">Course: <a href="https://www.aup.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate/ba-hons-fine-art">BA (Hons) Fine Art</a></p> <p dir="ltr">Magda Tudor’s <em>Transient States</em> uses sound, projection and sculptural elements to build an immersive environment where images, voices and objects are difficult to pin down. Fragments appear, shift and separate from each other, placing the viewer inside a space that feels unsettled.</p> <p dir="ltr">Her practice looks at how identity can be shaped by language, technology, architecture and memory. The work holds on to moments that feel partial, interrupted or still forming.<br /></p>

<p dir="ltr">Course: <a href="https://www.aup.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate/ba-hons-fine-art">BA (Hons) Fine Art</a></p> <p dir="ltr">Vanessa Crosse’s <em>The Mythcorrhizal Tree</em> is a symbolic installation that uses the image of a tree to connect ecology, mythology, feminism and shared human experience. Drawing on mycorrhizal relationships between plants and fungi, Vanessa presents the tree as a figure of support, interdependence and hidden connection.</p> <p dir="ltr">The work also looks to sacred and cultural mythologies, reinterpreting them through a feminist lens. Informed by displacement and a fractured political landscape, <em>The Mythcorrhizal Tree</em> imagines connection as something held underground, between people, histories and living systems.<br /></p>

<p dir="ltr">Course: <a href="https://www.aup.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate/ba-hons-illustration">BA (Hons) Illustration</a></p> <p dir="ltr">Alice Ann Kelly’s <em>Broken by Design</em> uses illustration to question why students are so often made to feel that difficulty in higher education is a personal failure. Drawing on the social model of disability, the project shifts attention from the individual to the systems, processes and assumptions that can make learning inaccessible.</p> <p dir="ltr">Informed by personal experience and research into disability theory and equal access, Alice combines conventional and unconventional illustration methods with storytelling and physical interaction. Rather than presenting access as an individual adjustment, <em>Broken by Design</em> asks what might change if higher education looked more closely at the systems that disable people in the first place.</p> <p dir="ltr">Links: <a href="http://alkelab.myportfolio.com">alkelab.myportfolio.com</a> | Instagram <a href="https://www.instagram.com/alke.lab/">@alke.lab</a><br /></p>

<p dir="ltr">Course: <a href="https://www.aup.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate/ba-hons-photography">BA (Hons) Photography</a></p> <p dir="ltr">Anna Leader is a music photographer and founder of <em>Sound Magazine</em>, an independent publication pairing live music photography with interviews and editorial storytelling. The magazine has featured artists including Wolf Alice, The Royston Club, The Last Dinner Party and Kaiser Chiefs, with Anna photographing and interviewing bands across the UK and Europe.</p> <p dir="ltr">Through the project, Anna examines how women are photographed, represented and discussed in music culture, responding to objectification, beauty standards and industry power dynamics. <em>Sound Magazine</em> has reached international readers, with copies sold in Texas and the Netherlands.</p> <p dir="ltr">Links: <a href="http://annaleaderphotography.myportfolio.com/work">annaleaderphotography.myportfolio.com</a> | Instagram <a href="https://www.instagram.com/annaleaderphoto/">@annaleaderphoto</a><br /></p>

<p dir="ltr">Course: <a href="https://www.aup.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate/ba-hons-film-screen-arts">BA (Hons) Film &amp; Screen Arts</a></p> <p dir="ltr">Jasper Kirkpatrick-Navarre’s <em>Tandem</em> is a romantic comedy about Willow, a young woman used to being the third wheel until she enters a magical park and her world tilts into something stranger. Made as a deliberately upbeat short film, <em>Tandem</em> uses fantasy, practical animation and smooth camera movement to bring lightness and visual play to a story about romance, insecurity and self-perception.</p> <p dir="ltr">Based in Plymouth, Jasper works across directing, cinematography and editing, with a particular interest in the visual language of music videos and commercials. His experience already reaches beyond university: he won Best Documentary at The Brit School in 2020, was part of a crew that won a UK Music Video Award in 2023, and has worked on projects involving William Gao, Aitch, LAUZZA, Bawo, Ayrtn and Kibo.</p> <p dir="ltr">Links: <a href="http://jnavarre-kirkpatri.wixsite.com/portfolio">jnavarre-kirkpatri.wixsite.com/portfolio</a> | Instagram <a href="https://www.instagram.com/jasperkirk/">@jasperkirk</a><br /></p>

<p>Arts University Plymouth was recently ranked 6th in the UK for student satisfaction in the Complete University Guide 2027 and named Winner for South West England in both Facilities and Student Support at the Whatuni Student Choice Awards 2026.</p> <p>Explore the work in person at Arts University Plymouth’s <a href="https://www.aup.ac.uk/graduate-shows-2026">Graduate Shows 2026</a>, with free public exhibitions and events across art, design, craft, media, fashion, photography, film, animation and illustration.</p>